1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus having a function of storing image data in a storing device and erasing the stored data, an image processing method and an image processing program product.
2. Description of Related Art
The following description sets forth the inventor's knowledge of related art and problems therein and should not be construed as an admission of knowledge in the prior art.
In a recently available image processing apparatus, e.g., an image processing apparatus for use in a copying machine, a facsimile machine, or a MFP (Multi Function Peripheral) which is a complex machine having multi-functions such as a copying function, a print function, a scan function and a facsimile function, to cope with a requirement of storing a large amount of image data of the inputted job, an apparatus equipped with a high-capacity nonvolatile memory such as a hard disk device has been provided.
In an image processing apparatus equipped with such a memory, the image data stored in the memory can be utilized repeatedly.
Among image data to be transferred to such a memory, some image data may not be required to be stored in an accumulated manner in the memory depending on the job mode. The example of such image data include image data of a normal copy job and a print job transmitted from an external computer. Even in the case of such image data, they are once stored in a memory. Furthermore, even in the case of image data stored in an accumulated manner in a memory, a user may wish to delete the image data in cases where they become no longer necessary.
To cope with the above, Japanese Unexamined Laid-open Patent Publication No. H9-284518 proposes an image processing apparatus capable of arbitrarily delete image data stored in a memory or automatically delete the image data after a certain time has passed.
In the aforementioned prior art, however, in cases where the stored image data are permanently deleted, deleting data are overwritten in the entire region of the image data. This increases the access time to the memory for deleting the image data. Therefore, writing or reading processing for another image data cannot be performed during the deleting processing, resulting in a deteriorated productivity of the apparatus.
The description herein of advantages and disadvantages of various features, embodiments, methods, and apparatus disclosed in other publications is in no way intended to limit the present invention. Indeed, certain features of the invention may be capable of overcoming certain disadvantages, while still retaining some or all of the features, embodiments, methods, and apparatus disclosed therein.